Today's Vomit Inducing Story

"Bell, one of the poorest cities in Los Angeles County, pays its top officials some of the highest salaries in the nation, including nearly $800,000 annually for its city manager."

--Opening sentence in today's Los Angeles Times article by reporters Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives. The story also notes that Robert Rizzo, Bell's city manager, is guaranteed 12 percent raises every July. An unapologetic Rizzo told the paper that he could make the same money in the private business world.

If that's not enough to make you vomit, consider one more fact.

Bell--which is not too much larger than Laguna Beach in population and is only 2.6 square miles in area--pays its part time city council members about $100,000 a year

R. Scott Moxley’s award-winning investigative journalism has touched nerves for two decades. An angry congressman threatened to break Moxley’s knee caps. A dirty sheriff promised his critical reporting was irrelevant and then landed in prison. Corporate crooks won’t take his calls. Murderous gangsters mad-dogged him in court. The U.S. House of Representatives debated his work. Pusillanimous cops have left hostile messages using fake names. Federal prosecutors credited his stories for the arrest of a doctor who sold fake medicine to dying patients. And a frantic state legislator literally caught sleeping with lobbyists sprinted down state capital hallways to evade his questions in Sacramento.